Sunday, June 28, 2009

SDIT, Barcelona and running again

I was out watching the San Diego International Triathlon, enjoying spectating for a change. Always interesting to be on the other side of the equation. Had many athletes of mine racing, as well as friends and people who attend many of my workouts, so a great opportunity to support others.

In a week Orlanda and I will head to Barcelona with our friends Jim and Nancy Walsh, to enjoy the incredible country of Spain, and I will get to fulfill one of my dreams of experiencing and seeing the Tour de France, as it comes through the city of Barcelona. Thursday of that week, Barcelona is the finish line of stage 6, and the start city for stage 7. Stage 6 will likely be a sprint finish, which should be awesome to see in person, while stage 7 is the first mountaintop finish of the tour, which will be exciting and probably the first major sorting out of the GC.

It's great to get to go to the Tour, because I was never able in the past. The month of July was always right in the middle of the season for me, and training and racing was always more important. Now it makes no difference, and it's great to have this opportunity.

I have even started running again, although it's so slow I would call it jogging. I'm not used to being passed when out for a run. I'm enjoying just getting out again, and trying to begin to get my weight back down to something I'm a little happier about.

I'm also realizing that the Ironman training was overkill in so many ways, I am much happier with the shorter sessions, and not feeling like my life is devoted to Ironman training. It makes me want to go back to short-course ITU racing.

All in all, things are good, and I am very excited about the upcoming trip. I hope to have more to report from the trip, complete with pics and Twitter updates.

Vance

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Jim, it was great to see you out there cheering for us today! It's always nice to see a familiar face out on the race course. Today is the first I have heard of you leaving the racing scene and I respect your new focus within the triathlon community. Best of luck and enjoy your trip to Europe.

Chris B

Trevor Glavin said...

Have fun over there!! Great country and great times to be had!

thaeber said...

Hey porker! Time to get rid of that inner tube around your waist!!! What are you?!?! All of 130 lbs soaking wet?!?

ryan.mingo said...

So Jim ... I stumbled upon your blog while Googling for fellow "expats" here in Barcelona who may be interested in getting together for training runs. Reading through your post, I decided to drop you a note, just to make sure that you take full advantage of your visit to Barcelona for the Tour...

Now that you're "running again", do yourself a favor while your here and head up to the "CARRETERA DE LES AIGUES" for one of the most scenic runs you can imagine ... 8km flat dirt road on the mountain (Tibidabo)above Barcelona with the BEST panoramic views of the city. I've been here for 10 years now, running 10k's and marathons, and still get blown away each time I'm up there (almost weekly) for my runs. It's tricky to get there, so let me know if you want to have a transplanted "local" show you the ropes.

Either way, enjoy Barcelona and the Tour.